Fastener applying device



July 23, 1957 H. J. SPENCER FASTENER vAPPIJYING DEVIQE 2 Sheets-SheetI 1 Fild Nov. 2, 1955 July 23, 1957 H. J. SPENCER FASTENER APPLYING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 2, 1955 n.. wm

N9 mm United States Patent FASTENER APPLYING DEVICE Herman J. Spencer, Ingomar, Pa.

Application November 2, 1955, Serial No. 544,435

Claims. (Cl. 1-49) One object of this invention is to provide a staple support bar which moves rearwardly under the staple guide to thereby leave the front of the machine unobstructed to facilitate clearing a jammed staple.

A further object is to provide a cam lever which is actuated into a restricting engagement with the driver so that the cam lever will be progressively allowed to move as the descending driver ejects a staple against the support bar to urge it rearwardly into operating engagement with the cam lever.

A further object is to provide a positive yet yielding means for holding a support bar in staple supporting position as a driver ejects a staple.

Another object is to provide means whereby upward movement of the driver will urge the cam lever and the support bar to their starting position.

Another object is to provide a hand operated machine of the type shown herein which is capable of moving the driver a great distance with a minimum of travel by the hand operated lever with its leverage value being greatly increased towards the end of a staple ejecting stroke.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred embodiment of my invention.

Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through the device with the parts in their starting position and with some of the parts in whole section for clarity of illustration;

Figure 2 is an end elevation of Figure 1 looking to the right with the front plate removed to illustrate the parts in the same position shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a vertical longitudinal section through the device with the parts shown after a staple has been ejected and with some of the parts in whole section;

Figure 4 is a side elevation of the staple support bar;

Figure 5 is an end View looking to the rigfht of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a plan view from above of Figure 4.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the assembled frame 1 of the machine has a longitudinally extending bottom wall 2 with upwardly extending spaced apart sidewardly brackets 3. Spaced apart upwardly extending frame sides 4 are adapted to support the rocker arm shaft 5 and the operating lever shaft 6. The lower ends of the frames sides 4 are welded to brackets 3 of the bottom wall 2. See Figures l and 2.

Extending outwardly transversely from the forwardly edges of the frame sides 4 are llanges 7 which are secured to a rear plate 8 which is described below. The rear plate 8 extends transversely across the front of the device, its lower end 2 is formed horizontally rearwardly. An inverted U-shaped spacer plate 9 lies ilatwise and is secured to the forwardly side of the uppermost end of the transversely extending portion of the rear plate 8 with its internal vertical edges 10 acting as the sidewardly guides and its internal horizontal edge 11 acting as an upwardly stop for the driver 12. See Figures l and 2. The forwardly side of the rear plate 8 acts as the rear- 2,799,859 ce Patented July 23, 1957 wardly guide for the driver 12. The rear plate 8 has an elongated centrally located opening 13 to permit access to the rearwardly side of the driver 12.

A front plate 14 extends transversely across the front of .the device and it is spaced apart from the rear plate S to provide a working space therebetween for the driver 12 and to provide a front and rear guide for a staple S as it is being ejected. A vertically extending opening 59 is provided centrally in the front plate 14 to provide working space for end 56 of the driver link 22 and plate 14 is held in place by screws 58. See Figure l. A centrally located opening is provided at the lower end of the rear plate 8 and a portion of its vertical edges adjacent to their lower ends are formed forwardly a short distance to provide sidewardly guides 15 for the staples S as they are fed into driving position beneath the driving blade 12. See Figures l and 2. The lower end of the front plate 14 is also notched upwardly and the vertical edges 16 of the notch are in alignment with the vertical edges of the opening at the lower end of the rear plate 8 to provide a sidewardly guide to position the forwardly end of the support bar 17 between the legs of a staple S as it is being ejected from the device.

Left and right hand parts of the rocker arm 18 are pivotally mounted between the frames sides 4 of the frame 1 on shaft 5. A link 19 is pivotally connected by one of its ends to the rocker arm 18 by pin 20 and link 19 has its other end pivotally connected to the flanges 54 of the inverted U-shaped operating lever 21 by shaft 61. The forwardly end of the operating lever 21 lis pivotally mounted on shaft 6 which is supported in the frame sides 4 at a point forwardly and above shaft 5. The driver link 22 is pivoted by its upper end to the rocker arm 18 by pin 23 and link 22 has its other end pivotally entered in opening 55 of the driver 12 to reciprocate it. A spring 50 is coiled around shaft 5 with one of its legs 51 bearing against ilange 53 of the frame side 4 and spring 50 has its other leg 52 exerting pressure on the rocker arm 18 to urge it clockwise on shaft 5 to thereby urge the driver 12 and other parts to the starting position shown in Figures 1 and 2.

The U-shaped staple guide 32 extends longitudinally with its forwardly end terminating at the forwardly side of the rear plate 8. Vertical parallel flanges 23 extend upwardly from web 33 of the staple guide 32 and the underside of web 33 is secured to the upwardly side of the bottom wall 2 of the frame to provide a guide on which inverted U-shaped staples S ride straddle fashion. The staples S are held downwardly on the staple guide flanges 28 by overlying hold-down members 34. The staples S are moved forwardly along the staple guide flanges 28 to a position beneath the driver 12 by a staple pusher 35. See Figure 1. The staple pusher 35 is of inverted U shape in cross section, it is of the same configuration as the staples and the pusher 35 is moved forwardly by a coil spring 36, its one end 37 is secured to a lug 3S which is pressed upwardly from web 33 of the staple guide 32. The feeder spring 36 passes around a pulley 39 which is pivoted on pin 47 which is supported between and in the forwardly ends of anges 28 of the staple guide 32 and feeder spring 36 has its other end 40 attached to a pin 41'which is carried by the pusher 35. See Figure l.

A support bar 17 has a curved face 24 on its forwardly side which adapts it to be shifted thereby rearwardly by the underside of the crown of a staple as the staple is being moved downwardly along the curved face 24 of the support bar 17 by the driver 12. See Figures l and 3. A cam lever 25 is pivotally mounted on shaft 26 which has its ends supported in notches 49 in the sidewardly flanges 27 of the inverted U-shaped bracket 29 which is secured between and to the forwardly ends of 3 flanges 28 of the stapleiguide 32. The lower end 30 of Vcam lever 25 is operably entered in a centrally located opening 57 in the body portion of the support bar 17 for pivoting the cam lever 2S counter-clockwise on shaft 26 to move the upper end 31 of the cam leverf25 in progressively restricting engagement with vthe Vrearwardly facing angled portion 61) of the driver 12 to thereby progressively restrict rearward movement of the support bar. 17 So it will unyieldingly support a stapleS as Vit is ejectedby the driver 12; Upward movement will reverse the movement of cam lever 25 and the support bar 17, as will be apparent from FiguresV 1 and 3. 'The lower edges 42 of flanges 28of bracket`29 act as `overlying guides to hold the body portion` oftheY support-'bar 17 downwardly to..

Cam lever25 has a rearwardly positioned lug 44, its underside -is adapted to vcontact the upper surface of the body portion ofthe 'support bar 17 Vto limit clockwise rotation of the cam lever 25 and thereby stop forwardly movement of the support bar 17. A spring 45 is coiled around shaft 26, it has one leg 43 exerting pressure on the upwardly side of lug 44 of thecam lever 25 to urge it clockwise on shaft 26 and hence the staple support bar 17 in its forward position, 'and the other leg 46 of spring Y 45 extends rearwardly to use pin 47 as a leverage point with its end held under lug 48 of flange 27 to thereby urge the coils of spring 4S to hold shaft 26 upwardly in notches 49 of tlanges 27. See Figure 1.

The driver 12 is madeV from flat sheet metal of rectangular shape, it has a centrally located opening 55 ad- Y jacent its upper end adapted to operatively connect the driver 12 to the lower end 56 of the driver link 22 andY v centrally adjacent its lower end is an angled surface 60 to provide a cam surface lfor end 31 of the cam lever 25.

' The operation of the ldevice is as follows: Assuming the parts are inthe positions shown in Figures 1 and 2, with a staple S having been fed into position beneath the driver 12, the device is placed firmly against the material to be Astapled. The operating lever 21 is moved clockwise on pin 6 Vto rotate the rocker arm 18 counter# clockwise on shaft 5 'through' link 19 and the driver 12 is thereby moved downwardly through its connection with link l22 which is pivoted to the rocker arm 18 by pin 23.

As the driver 12 is moved vertically downwardly, itv pushes the leading staple S downwardly and its legs straddle the forwardly end of the support bar 17 withthe staples crown moving along'the curved face 24 of the e support bar 17 to thereby progressively shift itrrearwardly. See Figures l and 3.

When the support bar 17 starts to be moved rearwardly, as described above, it instantly contacts the lower end 30 of the cam lever 25 to thereby urge the cam lever 25 to pivot counter-clockwise on shaft 26 and the upper end 31 of the cam lever is thereby shifted into restricting eni gagement with the rearwardly facing Yangled portion 60 of the driver 12.

It will be apparent that the angled portion 60 of the driver 12 will rotate the cam lever 25 clockwise on shaft 26 and thereby the cam lever 25 will move the support bar `17 forwardly when the driver y12 is moved upwardly by the return spring 50.

In Figure l, the starting position, it will be observed that pin 20 is the pivot point of link 19 with the rocker arm 18 and that pin 20 is slightly to one side of a line drawn between shaft 61 which connects the other end of link 19 with the operating lever 21 and shaft S which is the pivot of the rocker arm 18 on the frame 1. It will be apparent from Figure l and Figure 3 that pressure applied on the operating lever'21 to move it clockwise will be directed, at the start, towards but slightly to one side of shaft 5 and that as the operating lever 21 moves clockwise,the direction Vof the applied pressure will move through pin 2i) further awayrfrom shaft 5 to thereby greatly increase the leverage advantage of the operating lever 21. Y

I claim:

l. In a stapling device, a frame, staple feeding and guiding means in said framea staple driver operable'to eject a staple through said guiding means, va staple sup? port bar slidably mounted in the frame and'urged'to a position to be engaged and moved by a staple being ejected by said driver, and means carried by Vsaid staple guide means to be engageduby said driver as the driver ejects a staple to move said support bar to progressively retain said staple support bar in staple supporting position as said staple is ejected by said driver. n

2'. A device as in claim 1 further characterizedby reverse movement of said driver acting to'move VsaidV means carried by said staple guide means in reverse direction and thereby move said staple support bar to its staple engagingV position.

3. A device as in claim l'further characterized by resilient means for holding said'rneans carried by ,said staple guide means from moving prior to the staple ejection movement of the driver. f

4. In a stapling device, a frame, a'staple feedingand guiding means in said frame, a staple driver operable to eject a .staple through said guiding means, a rocker arm pivoted on said frame, a driver link operatively connected at one end toV said driver to reciprocate it, pivotal means connecting the other end of said' driver link to said rocker arm so that counter-clockwise movement of said rocker will move said driver to eject a staple, an operating lever pivoted by its one end to said frame, a link pivotally connected by one end to said operating lever and having its other endpivotally connected to said Yrocker arm to rotate .theY latter counter-clockwise on clockwise movement of said operating lever, the position of the pivot point of said link with said rocker arm being slightly to ,one side of a line drawn between the links pivot with said operating lever, and the pivot of said rocker arm on said frame prior to counter-clockwise movement of the driver to eject a staple. Y

5. A device as in claim 4 and further characterized by clockwise movement of said operating lever acting Vto rotate said rocker arm counter-clockwise to thereby through the driver link move the 'driver to eject a staple with the pivot of said link on said rocker arm moving further away from said line to thereby greatly increase the leverage advantage of said operating lever;

No references cited. 

